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William the Conqueror

Also called: William I of England, William the Bastard

Duke of Normandy who won the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and became king of England (Norman dynasty)

The illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of Normandy, he inherited the duchy at about seven. Growing up amid rebellions, he built Normandy into a strong duchy. After the conquest he handed most Anglo-Saxon nobles’ lands to Normans and built many castles, including the White Tower of the Tower of London. In 1086 he had the land and property of the whole kingdom surveyed in the Domesday Book. He died at Rouen of an injury received while fighting the king of France.

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1 related event

  1. 1
    1066Norman Conquest of Englandcommander

    In 1066 Duke William of Normandy defeated King Harold II of England at the Battle of Hastings and took the throne, founding the Norman dynasty.

Themes this person appears in

  • Medieval Europe and ByzantiumAD 476 – 1077

    From the fall of Rome in the West to Canossa — the feudal West built by the Franks and the papacy, Byzantium as heir of Rome, and a church divided east and west